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The numbers from ISE 2018 are in and, as expected, they are big-- so much so the 15th edition of the show was the biggest yet, attracting 80923 visitors over its 4-day duration, a 10.3% increase over 2017.

Interestingly, almost 20000 visitors attended on the last day of the show, while 30% of total attendees were visiting ISE for the first time. As for the show itself, the 2018 edition featured 15 halls filling 53000 square metres of floor space. Occupying the halls were 1296 exhibitors, of which 294 were first timers, and Integrated Systems Events says floor space confirmed for ISE 2019 already stands at 103% of the total booked for ISE 2018.

“It’s been a great show that has delivered on all fronts. I’m delighted to report that visitor numbers and exhibitor satisfaction have both been very high," Integrated Systems Events managing director Mike Blackman says. "On behalf of ISE, I’d like to thank all our attendees, exhibitors, partners and our co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA. This combination has made ISE what it is today and ensures that we are able to build on our successes year on year.”

As 2017 comes to a close it is as good a time as any to take a look back at the times in custom install that have been, from smart speakers going mainstream to any number of company acquisitions and mergers.

Integrated Systems Events reports over 40% of ISE 2017 attendees were first timers, with 15662 exhibitor personnel contributing to a total visitor count on 73413 and 22713 visiting for the first time.

The "Official Facts and Figures" report, based on data collected from registrations and post-show questionnaires, breaks down show visitor demographics. For instance, the show hosted 1192 exhibitors from 79 countries, and over 30% of visitors were system integrators, with distributors and manufacturers making 16.8% and 14.9% respectively.

Technology consultants account for 8.7% of the total, and end customers make 7.8%. Interestingly, 34.2% of attendees have interests spanning both commercial and residential sectors, while 10.8% were purely interested in seeing residential solutions. The remaining 55% were interested solely in the commercial sector.

GUEST EDITORIAL

by Shelly Palmer, CEO, The Palmer Group

The superstar of CES 2017 was not a car, or a robot, or even a TV; it was Alexa Voice Service (AVS), the software that allows you to control compatible devices with your voice. Various reports estimated there were 700–1,100 Alexa-controllable products at the show. I can’t verify the number, but “and it works with Alexa” was the running gag at CES. The familiar Amazon/Alexa logo seemed to be everywhere.

Why Alexa Is “The” Killer App

The 1960s vision of living in George and Jane Jetson’s house has not been realized at scale. While it is possible to build a smart home where everything from the window shades to the television to the HVAC are self-aware and work in a perfectly balanced AI-controlled, automated way, in practice, it’s just too hard to accomplish. Devices really don’t talk to other devices, at least not in meaningful ways. This is especially true if you try to mix devices from different manufacturers. The IoT industry has been waiting for a killer app, an app like Apple Homekit or Google Home, but neither of those has delivered on the promise of a “grand unified smart home universe.”

Enter Alexa … the Killer App for IoT. If we learned anything at CES this year, we learned that anything that can be connected to Alexa will be connected to Alexa. Which truly changes everything!

“Ole Scheeren is the man who makes the impossible possible in architecture. He is a man who turns structural calculations into magic, who can seemingly make skyscrapers disappear into thin air and who created a movie theater that floats in the Indian Ocean. His wave of success has already carried him far. And when he has his way, this will only be the beginning.” Der Spiegel

One of the world’s pop stars of architecture, Ole Scheeren is a German architect and principal of Buro Ole Scheeren with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin, and Bangkok. He is chief designer and leading the company’s creative vision and strategic development.

And what a creative vision that is… for example, one project, MahaNakhon, is-- at 314 meters-- Bangkok’s tallest tower. Housing the Ritz-Carlton Residences, the building features a pixelated ribbon that swirls around the exterior, peeling back its surface layer to expose an inner layer (also creating balconies with sweeping views of the city).

Here are 10 more predictions for 2020 (#51-#60) from CEDIA Senior Director of Emerging Technologies Dave Pedigo and the 16 volunteers who join him in CEDIA’s Tech Council.

Prediction 51. We’ll see the “Uberization” of technology product delivery and continuing support services. In the CEDIA universe, there’s an opening for an app that will send the nearest home tech pro out to the consumer’s place on an as-needed basis.

Consumers will pay more when demand is high — or choose to wait a while, since the inverse is also true. (One wonders how many people have turned Tuesday night into pizza night now that take-‘n’-bake chain Papa Murphy’s has a $10/any pizza deal that day.)

A 17-member panel has made 100 predictions for 2020. Here are predictions 41-50._

Let’s continue with the predictions for 2020 from CEDIA Senior Director of Emerging Technologies Dave Pedigo and the 16 volunteers who make up CEDIA’s Tech Council. There are 100 in all, and links to the first 40 can be found at the bottom of this article.

This time we tackle Aging in Place, augmented memory, and attorneys.

Prediction 41. Aging in Place is becoming a profit center for our industry. Ric Johnson, who’s not a member of the Tech Council but blogs about CEDIA’s annual show as a “CEDIA Tweep,” is with a firm that already specializes in this segment, Right at Home Technologies. Ric brings the data in a recent post at cedia.net/show:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of residents 65 or older will grow from 35 million in 2000 to nearly 73 million by 2030. Right now, in 2016, nearly 54 million residents are at or nearing 65 years of age. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimates that over 70 percent of these homeowners are planning or making aging related improvements for themselves or their parents. This is an active, growing market. In this market, Home Automation requests are at about 49 percent, with assistive technologies around 14 percent and home health or activity monitoring tracking currently at 10 percent. As our population continues to age, requests for these services will continue to grow.

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